Seattle ComiCard Convention Report

Several weeks ago, hubby-Eric and I had a short discussion on whether or not to attend the September 14th Seattle ComiCard Convention. Hubby-Eric would have been teaching for two weeks and would be into the swing of things. More importantly, we would have some money on the way at the end of the month from his first paycheck. We decided to attend.

Yesterday afternoon I reminded hubby-Eric of the con, and asked if we were still going. Our situation had changed drastically. I really wanted to go, if only to possibly get some more permissions for posting sketches. Hubby-Eric, always the sensible one, reminded me of the money situation, and we dropped the topic to think on it some more. After a few hours, I decided that I was being selfish, and told hubby-Eric that with the way things had gone the last couple of weeks, I understood and accepted that we couldn't go. However, in the same time, Eric had thought about the cost of the con ($10 for both of us) and how much fun I was likely to have, and decided that we should go after all. I didn't need to have my arm twisted.

My goal for the con was at least one new sketch and two permissions to post older sketches. The first person I spotted upon entering the artists alley was William Stout, who was mentioned yesterday in Mark Evanier's blog. Mr Stout was not doing sketches, or so he said, but he drew a pretty cool dinosaur in my autograph book nonetheless! I should have had him sign in my sketchbook instead.

Next person we visited was Matt Clark, whose Aquaman drawing continues to amaze me. I went up and politely asked if I could post his sketch from 1999, and showed it to him. "Sure, no problem!" was the response (one permission down!). He then did a sketch for my husband of classic Hal Jordan Green Lantern.

While Matt drew in Eric's book, I visited the table next to his. Rebecca and Peter Woods were sitting together, and as Rebecca wasn't too busy I showed her my Aquaman sketchbook. She was ... "wildly enthusiastic" is almost not strong enough. She looked entirely through my first sketchbook, then through my second, and was willing to give Aquaman a try. While she sketched, I wandered to find more permissions. Well, actually, one permission walked up behind me while I was still talking with Rebecca. I now have Karl Kesel's permission to post his sketch, which he remembered and liked quite a bit (two down!). I spotted Mark Brill from across the room since he's been at every Seattle ComiCard Con I've been at, and I think I've said hello every time. This time I asked for permission to post his image, because for some reason I've never been able to reach him via e-mail. Again, permission was granted (three down!).

Rebecca finished her drawing of a pensive Aquaman after deciding that she didn't know how to draw kelp. So he's "Pensive and Kelpless". She then took on Eric's challenge, and drew Spoiler (from Robin) as Green Lantern (without the Spoiler mask on). She also granted permission for me to post her image, and her husband tackled the Aquaman challenge. His one is great, but you are going to have to wait until I post it (yes, permission granted) to understand why I love it so much. His is definitely along the lines of the Scott Alan "grin-every-time-I-see-it" sketch.

I figured I was done with sketches and permissions, but since Rebecca was still working on hubby-Eric's sketch, I popped over to visit Paul Gulacy. I honestly didn't think he'd be able to do a sketch, as there were tons of people at his table, but he took my book and managed one anyway. His is an amazing flowing image of the face of an older Aquaman, with the beard and long hair. It's beautiful. And, yes, he gave permission to post it. While he drew, I wandered the tables and spotted James Dean Smith (Boris the Bear) who had done a sketch for me at the Emerald City Comicon. Again, permission was granted to post his sketch (four down!).

By the time Paul Gulacy managed to finish my sketch between all the various other folks talking with him and getting autographs, I had run into The Cliff Guy, who got a cliff sketch from Peter Woods, and into another gentleman (whose name I can't recall) who had the most amazing book of Thor sketches. Unlike my sketches, which are entirely at the artist's whim, the Thor sketches were commissions, and frankly they were incredible. I hope someday to graduate to getting commissions of Aquaman done in a full-size book like that. One artist in the Thor book, Steve Hartley, was across the room doing caricatures. As hubby-Eric was getting a Peter Woods sketch, I went over to Steve and explained about my sketchbook, and apologized for not having any money, and asked if he was willing to draw an Aquaman. As there weren't any paying customers at the moment, he agreed, pointing out a caricature he had just done of the guy at the next table, Deep7 games, who, because he was blond and had a beard, Steve had drawn as Aquaman with two hook hands. He then did a very serious and sexy Aquaman for me, the Peter David version shirtless and muscled. Yum. Again, permission was granted to post the sketch.

Running out of energy and time, hubby-Eric collected his "Tin Lantern" sketch from Peter Woods and we vacated. I beat my goal by getting four permissions and four new sketches (all with permissions granted). Yeah, I had fun. And yeah, I think it was worth ten dollars.

Now, I'm sure you are all dying to know when I'm going to post these images. Well, I've got permission at the moment to post twelve sketches. I only have two of those scanned. My original plan was to post one per week on Saturday, but I think I'm going to increase the pace a bit as I've got so many permissions right now and I recently got a load of e-mail addresses to try. I don't, however, want to post them all at once. They are to be savored. So I will probably be posting one or two more per week until I get low on sketches with permissions.